Marksville ponders what to do with unused fireworks

 

   Store or shoot? That is the question facing Marksville city officials as they deliberate over what to do with $7,000 of fireworks that were unable to be shot to celebrate the nation’s birthday.

  Rain cancelled Marksville’s traditional July 4th fireworks display -- for only the second time in recent memory -- but city officials have not decided whether to store the explosives until next year or put on a Labor Day show with them.

  Fire Chief Jerry Bordelon and Assistant Chief Chris Bordelon addressed the City Council at its July 8 meeting about what to do with the fireworks. The firefighters noted that in the only other time the Independence Day event was rained out, the city held a make-up event on Labor Day, which is two months away.

   Mayor John Lemoine balked at that idea, saying the city should save its money by storing these fireworks for use next July 4th.

   Chief Bordelon said the owner of Artisan Pyrotechnics, Jack Manis, told him he would prefer not to store the city’s fireworks for a year. 

He also said there could be a storage fee, possibly $200 a month, due to the insurance, federal inspections and other paperwork involved in storing the explosives.

   Bordelon emphasized that the fireworks used in this type of display are not roadside vendor category fireworks. They fall into the same classification as dynamite and are heavily regulated by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

Fire department personnel who shoot the fireworks must have permits to do so.

   “I would recommend we shoot them at Labor Day,” Bordelon said, noting that it is a three-day weekend for many people and could bring people into Marksville.

   Chris Bordelon said he knows of only one time in the past 33 years that the fireworks display was rained out, and the city used them for a Labor Day celebration. He said the city would probably spend $2,400 just in storage, and that would be if Artisan was willing to put up with the ATF red tape to store the fireworks.

   “The problem is that it is not their product, it is ours,” Chris Bordelon said.

   He noted that if the city had contracted with Artisan to put on the show and it got rained out, the explosives would be the company’s concern. Since the display was purchased by the city to be handled by the fire department personnel, the unused fireworks are the city’s concern.

   Chief Bordelon said the city does not have the facility necessary to safely store the material. Artisan has picked up the fireworks and brought them back to  their bunkers and storage areas in Wiggins, Miss.

   Lemoine said that if Artisan doesn’t agree to store the fireworks, the city should find someone who will. He said the pyrotechnic company “prefers” not to store the material because it wants to sell the city $7,000 of fireworks next year.

   Contacted after the meeting, Manis said there are contractual obligations to consider, but “I am sure we will have a meeting of the minds and work it out to everyone’s satisfaction.”

     He said he had not spoken to city officials as of the day after the meeting. 

    “We are in the beginning of the ‘look into it’ stage,” Manis said. “We have not worked out the details. It would be premature to speculate on anything at this time.”